Pages

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

When I was growing up we always had a "real" Christmas tree and felt only pity for those poor souls who thought that an artificial tree was good enough. As might be evident from the picture here, a real tree was certainly not always a perfect tree!!

One thing I remember about our Christmas trees is that we always put them up on two orange crates covered with a white sheet. I guess that was to make room for the presents under the tree. My sister still has a couple of those old orange crates even though they are no longer used for the Christmas tree.

There were a number of my relatives that were total heathens in respect to the "real" Christmas tree idea. My mother's parents for some years had a tree that I believe was a very early forerunner of today's fiber optic tree. The catch was that this tree had to have a revolving color wheel to supply the ever-changing colors. I'm sure that anyone my age remembers these!
I don't remember how many years my grandparents had this type of tree, but I do remember being told by my parents not to get to close - they were always afraid we were going to knock it over.

In later years I remember my grandparents having a little (artificial) tree that they just set up on a table - which still seemed so WRONG to me as a child. As an adult I have a little more sympathy for the ease of the artificial tree. I will even admit to having a fiber optic tree in my house - but it's only the secondary tree down in the lower level. The upstairs still gets a BIG tree!

@Amy, would you believe they still sell those color wheel things? @lindalee I remember when it was all the rage to have the aluminum trees. We never had one, preferring to go out back and harvest our own. My dad was a carpenter and he would make a wooden "holder" out of two by fours. We had to leave our tree outside until about a week before Christmas to keep it fresh in a bucket of water. Oh, the lovely smell of fir in the house though when it finally was up and decorated.

Ha Ha!!!! I was wondering if someone was going to post about the tree with the revolving color wheel. Yes - I DO remember those. Our neighbors had one when I was not quite 10-years old. My sister and I use to stand on their front porch and watch the wheel going around making the aluminum tree change colors. What a hoot. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!